IS 'ALLAH' OUR GOD?

 

IS ALLAH OUR GOD?

In modern interreligious dialogue, people tend to refer to the Muslim deity ‘Allah’ as the same God of the Christians and Jews; and even more, some extremist theologians assume this ‘Allah’ to be also the only God of the universe, the Creator of all, and as a consequence, the same God of any other religion, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Parsi religion, animistic religions, etc.

WHO IS ALLAH HISTORICALLY

The deity called ‘Allah’ by the Arabs, pre- exists Islam by at least hundred of years; the same as our God ELOHIM, pre-exists Judaism.

When Mohamed invented his religion, Allah was one among many gods worshipped in the Kaaba by the idolatrous Arabs of the Negev and Arabic peninsula, some considered Him to be a Lunar god, and others mixed him with HUBAL, another supreme Arab deity, putting the name of Allah, which means simply ‘god’ alongside other idols (1).

This phenomenon also occurred with the Name of the Hebrew God, who was not totally unknown before Abraham, but was only one of many deities among the pagan Mesopotamians (2).

WHAT HAPPEN AFTER MOHAMED

When Mohammed, posing as prophet of his religion, took Mecca, he entered the Kaaba and destroyed all the other statues of gods, and even the statue of Allah, declaring that the only true Allah was invisible and that to build statues in his name was sinful (3)

Since then, according to the theological thought of Mohammed and then Islam, Allah became identified with the God of Abraham, the God of Adam, and the God of Jesus of Nazareth, in such a way, that every time they speak of Allah, in their minds is not a Lunar god, or the same statue of pre-Islamic Kaaba, but our God, the God of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus, as well as the other prophets.

WHAT ARE CHRISTIANS TO DO

As Christians, we believe Jesus to be the literal Son of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, also known to us as YHWH, and before that, as ELOHIM.

In modern Arabic language, ‘Allah’, means simply God, so that when we refer to the Father of Jesus, our God, in Arabic, we must say Allah, because that is the word in that language. But mentally and spiritually, we are not referring to the god of the Muslims just because it is pronounced the same.

ALSO, whenever they refer to their god as our God, by saying Allah, it is the intention in them which marks the difference, so only then we can speak of this Allah as referring to Lord YHWH and not other.

CONCLUSION

Top avoid confusion, it is better to remain with the Name of YHWH, which is a revealed Name and not a generic word as god (Allah), even when we are referring to the same God.

But most important, even when a Muslim is referring to our God by saying Allah, this Allah, which he supposes to be the same God as ours, it is not the Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, therefore, his Allah, cannot be our Allah, and therefore, he remains still a different being, at least in theological terms.

For there is only ONE GOD, YHWH, and JESUS is HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON,

Omar Flores.

 

(1)        "Allah", Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend by Anthony S. Mercatante and James R. Dow (2004) p. 53.

 

Christian Julien Robin (2012). Arabia and Ethiopia, The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity by Christian Julien Robin (2012) p. 304–305.

 

(2)        "God: God in Islam", Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.) by Vincent J. Cornell (2005) p. 724.

 

(3)        The Age of Bliss Prophet Muhammad by Mustafa Erdogan (2014).

 

Al-Mubarakpuri, Safi-ur-Rahman (2008). The Sealed Nectar (Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum) by Al-Mubarakpuri and Safi-Ur Rahman (2008) p. 458.